Chapter 25 - Royal Visitor
Mia still hadn’t returned when Lilly came back to the house, so she started baking for the evening. Her culinary skills hadn’t deteriorated much, but she still felt nervous baking for a princess.
‘I hope she’ll be able to genuinely compliment my cake, or at least that she doesn’t try to make me feel better if she doesn’t like it. An honest critique is better than a dishonest compliment.’
The cake was finished half an hour later, with a fluffy and fruity sponge and buttery vanilla cream on top. Lilly did her utmost to decorate it perfectly, making the little stars of cream stand out with a touch of flame lightly charring the top.
As soon as the cake was finished, Mia arrived. She was holding a bag filled with what seemed like small rocks and was carrying a large marble slab on her back. “Hey, Lilly! I think I got everything we might need for a Phoenix bed. Where is Elly?”
Lilly’s smile at seeing her turned into a frown once Eolande was mentioned, making Mia look worried. “She went to the Eldhaven right after we finished the belt. Her husband is probably in trouble.”
“What?! All alone?” Mia exclaimed, carelessly putting the bag and slab on the kitchen table. “Was that amulet telling her he was in trouble?”
“Yeah, it glowed faintly red. I’m guessing that’s a bad sign, and she seemed quite nervous before leaving. I talked with Adelia right after, and we figured it was best to leave it to Elly… I wanted to follow her, but she said it was likely a job better suited for her.”
“But what if it’s a trap?”
“We considered that as well. Elly can probably take care of whatever the issue is, whether it’s freeing him from captivity or evading some traps. I hope.”
Mia looked nervous, but then she looked over at the finished cake sitting on the kitchen counter and shot Lilly a curious gaze. “And now you’re calmly baking because you have so much faith in her?”
Lilly sighed, looking down at the cake with mixed emotions. “Yeah, let’s go with that. Adelia is still coming over tonight, and I needed to get my mind off of Elly for a while. Now that the king might be openly hostile to us, we might have to move the plans forward quite a bit...”
Mia stared at her in silence for a moment, furrowing her brows. “What could he be hoping to gain from this? Is it just to provoke us? Or to get rid of an enemy before we set our plans in motion?”
“I don’t know. I doubt it would be something simple. Maybe they’re trying to implicate us in a crime of some sort by having Elly at the wrong place at the wrong time, or maybe the general just needed to see her and used the amulet to summon her. It’s hard to say anything for sure at the moment.”
Mia sat down at the table and put her face in her hands. “What do we… How long are we going to wait before we do anything, then?”
Lilly sat down on the other side and pulled Mia’s hands into her own. Mia looked more upset than she had expected, but Lilly was glad she cared so much. “We will have to wait for the investigation to end, at least. After that, we go after her, no matter the consequences.”
Mia nodded, looking Lilly straight into her eyes. “No matter the consequences. Let’s hope she’s back before then. But if they want to play dirty, we’ll show them why that’s a bad idea.”
----------------------------------------
The evening felt far away while she was baking, but time passed quickly once Lilly had managed to calm down some more. She had a plan now, and even though it was terrifying, just knowing her course of action helped a lot to calm her nerves.
She sat in the kitchen petting Beak lovingly when a knock could be heard from the door to the shop downstairs. “Come in!”
A nervous-looking guard opened the door and saluted to Lilly before speaking. “Apologies, My Lady. The princess is here to see you. Should I let her in?”
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Oh, I should have told you guys about that, sorry. Yes, please let her right on in,” Lilly replied, not feeling surprised she had forgotten to tell them. She had other things on her mind at the time.
The guard bowed reply before heading back down the stairs. Lilly considered going down to greet Adelia, but she figured she would prefer a more casual atmosphere.
Mia heard the guard and came to the kitchen from the living room, looking nervous but prepared to meet the princess properly.
Steps could be heard from the stairs, signaling her arrival. Lilly noticed she only heard one set of footsteps and figured Claude had been left behind today. She didn’t mind much either way, but it was nice to see Adelia being able to make that choice by herself.
Sure enough, Adelia came through the door, looking around nervously. Her face brightened once she saw Lilly sitting by the table, and she bowed in greeting.
“Hi, Lilly! It’s a very quaint home you have here!” she said, looking around the kitchen. “Oh, and you’re Mia, right? It’s so nice to finally meet you properly!”
She walked up to Mia and held her hand. “I saw you at the funeral, of course, but it seemed like a bad time to get acquainted.”
Mia had a slightly stiff smile as she replied. “It’s nice to meet you too, Your Highness! I’ve heard a lot about you, and most of it has been good.”
Adelia smiled back but glanced curiously at Lilly. “I would love to hear about it! And you can call me Adelia. I would love to discuss some forging techniques with you; I think it’s a fascinating subject!”
Mia seemed surprised by that, but soon started smiling more genuinely in response. “Oh, really? I heard you had a curious mind, but I didn’t think it extended to such ‘simple’ subjects.” Mia scowled at Lilly as she said the last part.
“I never said that!” Lilly protested, certain she had never said so out loud. It was usually more of a quiet whisper in her mind.
“You didn’t have to. Why don’t you prepare the tea while me and Adelia here go discuss some boring stuff in the livingroom?” She put her arm around Adelia’s shoulder and led her through the door to the living room.
Adelia looked a bit fascinated by their behavior, but she seemed to figure it was best to keep quiet.
Lilly couldn’t help but smile at Mia’s audacity as she got up to prepare the tea. It was an easy job for someone with the power of the sun in her palms, but it still required some technique.
Heating the kettle from the bottom would let the bubbles of steam rise through the water, making the leaves dance and release more of their taste. Once the aroma was steaming through the spout, it was ready to serve.
Lilly put three cups on the serving tray, along with the teapot and three slices of cake. She felt satisfied with her work and carried it to the living room, where Mia and Adelia seemed to be chatting merrily about smithing.
“... so making a curved edge on mithril blades is very hard due to the low expansion under heating,” Mia explained, using lively hand gestures.
“But you can still make the curve manually, right?” Adelia asked, looking just as intrigued as Mia.
“Of course, but that’s not easy to make perfectly. With uneven quenching, you get a nice natural curve. I know a lot of warriors prefer curved longswords because they tend to keep straight while cutting. You might have trouble holding it straight with axes or straight-swords, making the cut lose its sharpness.”
Lilly tried to get their attention by putting the tray on the table, but they didn’t seem to notice her. She felt a bit exasperated at both of them, but she knew she could get that way as well with the right subject.
She cleared her throat loudly to break their trance. “I’ve brought some tea and cake if anyone cares to try it.”
Adelia looked at her with surprise at first before looking down at the table. “Oh, this looks amazing, Lilly! I barely see more elegant cake in the castle. If the taste is just as good, I’d almost think it a shame you became an enchantress.”
Lilly smirked, not sure if she should believe her words. “I can only hope it lives up to your expectations, Adelia. This was mostly for the two of you to get acquainted properly, so it’s good that you have something to talk about.”
“Oh, absolutely! Mia has a great deal of knowledge about forging! It’s incredible that she’s able to forge palladium at her age!” Adelia exclaimed excitedly, looking at Mia like some celebrity.
Mia blushed slightly at her words. “Well, if I want to keep up with Lilly, I have to improve quickly. It helps a lot that I get free enchanted tools and such, though.”
“Hah, if tools were enough to make anyone capable of forging palladium, we would have an unbeatable army by now. You’re clearly a great talent, Mia.”
Adelia looked over at Lilly, pausing for a moment. “Of course, you both are incredible talents. It’s incredible what the two of you have become capable of in such a short amount of time!”
Now Lilly blushed instead, knowing this praise would be hard to disagree with. Her baking might not be at the national level, but her enchanting sure was. Even if the flame had a lot to do with it, she still felt confident in her own skills.